Pat Rollins: Advice on fishing for salmon

Tuesday

Apr 3, 2012 at 3:15 AM

Family obligations kept me from joining my buddies for the opening of salmon fishing here in New Hampshire. However, Mike assured me that when their trip was done, he'd drop by to let me know how they made out. When I saw him walking slowly to the front door late Sunday afternoon, I knew it wasn't a successful trip.

"Well, how did you make out?" I asked when I answered the door.

"It was fun to get out there," Mike replied. "But I think the early ice-out has screwed things up a bit."

He went on to explain that as soon as they launched the boat they made a beeline straight to one of our most productive early season locations and quickly got four lines in the water.

"You know me," he said. "The first thing I reached for was a Moose look Wobbler. I let it back about a hundred feet and sent it down just six feet on the down rigger."

I knew Pete would begin his season fishing with a modified Winnipesaukee Smelt. Pete's oldest son grabbed a red gray ghost streamer and his youngest strung a smelt onto a hook ahead of a small spinner.

We had quite an area covered, Mike explained. They set two of their lines on down riggers while the boys manned their lines off the planer boards.

"I probably wouldn't have set out the planer boards," I said. "With all the ice gone, the surface temperature is probably too warm. The salmon are probably deeper already."

"After trolling for more than two hours without a strike, that's what I was thinking," Mike said. "So Pete and I dropped down to 15 feet after we switched locations."

Mike admitted that he might have stuck with the Wobbler a bit to long, however, he tried numerous other spoons throughout the day and none of them triggered a single response.

"We thought we might have figured it out later in the day when Pete's line popped from the release," Mike said. "He had something for a minute, however, it dropped it before he barely got two cranks of the reel handle."

After that Mike said he brought his line in and switched to a traditional Winnipesaukee Smelt streamer tied long and full. On the next pass through the same water he watched his rod pop from the release.

"I ran over and lifted my rod out of the holder and I know I felt a fish shaking its head for a moment," he said. "It was there and then it wasn't!"

They made several loops through that area without drawing a strike before they pulled up their lines and moved westward to another one of our favorite early season spots. Once there, they put on the boats other two down riggers for the boys to use. The boys tied on spoons and set their lures about 50 feet behind the boat and down 20 feet on the riggers. Pete and Mike stuck with long shanked streamers, opting to let them some 100 feet behind the boat, down 15 feet on the down riggers.

"We trolled for another three hours without so much as a touch, then while Pete was making a wide turn, something grabbed my fly again," Mike said. "But as soon as I pulled my rod from the holder, it was gone again!"

"I'd have switched to a tandem streamer about that time," I suggested.

"We did," Mike admitted. "However, I think it was to late. We didn't get another strike all day."

"Do you have any tandem Winnipesaukee Smelt streamers?" Mike asked.

"Sure do," I answered.

"Would you part with a few?" he asked.

I went to retrieve my fly box and let my buddy select a dozen various tandem patterns. He took a couple gray ghosts, however, the bulk of what he chose were variations of the Winnipesaukee Smelt.

"I'd clip the hair a little shorter on the ends to make it difficult for the salmon to short strike the lure," I suggested.

"I can't wait to get back out there and try these," Mike added. "They just might be the ticket to success."